Alcohol debate rages on in NT

A debate is raging in the Northern Territory about whether new laws requiring people to have a licence to drink alcohol are fair.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: In the Northern Territory a debate's raging about whether new laws requiring people to have a licence to drink alcohol is responsible stewardship or the nanny state gone mad. As you'd be aware, alcohol abuse is rife in Aboriginal communities - not just in the Territory of course, but all around the country. Not only do the new Territory laws make a licence mandatory, you have to produce an ID to buy takeaway alcohol too. Here's Sara Everingham.

TED EGAN: It's hot, and it's become sort of customary to greet people with a handshake and here's a stubby and let's find time to talk.

SARA EVERINGHAM, REPORTER: It's long been known there are few things Northern Territorians like more than a drink. It was Ted Egan the musician who went on to become the Northern Territory's administrator who captured the big drinking habits of Territorians in song.

TED EGAN: I always have to remind people that my song is not about excessive drinking, it's about convivial drinking. And I don't resile from the fact that I did write the song.

DENNIS GRAY, NATIONAL DRUG RESEARCH INSTITUTE, CURTIN UNI.: I think alcohol consumption in the Northern Territory's about 50 per cent greater than it is in Australia as a whole. And along with that there are higher rates of alcohol-related crime and health problems.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The man in charge of Royal Darwin Hospital's emergency department Dr Didier Palmer is on the frontline of dealing with the perils of alcohol abuse. During his 15 years working in the Northern Territory he's seen many tragedies.

DIDIER PALMER, ROYAL DARWIN HOSPITAL: This week's alcohol tragedy is a simple car accident where a young man, 24-year-old man T-boned another car. The 60-year-old passenger looked initially OK and turned out to have an intra-cerebral bleed, so he bled into his brain.

SARA EVERINGHAM: In towns around the Territory, Indigenous drinkers are often the most visible, but the overconsumption of alcohol is not confined to that community.

DENNIS GRAY: A few years ago we did a study and it showed that if every Aboriginal person in the Territory were to stop drinking tomorrow, the Territory would still have significant alcohol-related problems.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The Territory Government estimates alcohol abuse costs $4,000 per adult - that's four times the national figure. Now, the Northern Territory Government is trying to turn the problem around, with what it's calling the toughest alcohols laws in the country. Rolled out three months ago, the laws mean anyone buying takeaway alcohol has to show photo ID, which is scanned to make sure banned drinkers are not served.

DELIA LAWRIE, NT MINISTER FOR ALCOHOL POLICY: We've made it as quick and simple and easy as possible. It's a seven second swipe at point of sale, and you can go on. But for the 1,500 Territorians today who are on the banned drinker register, they're not sold grog.

TERRY MILLS, NT OPPOSITION LEADER: It is a misguided notion that people need to recognise alcohol as being the problem when they should recognise that personal responsibility is the key here.

SARA EVERINGHAM: At this small supermarket in Darwin, owner Carol Valles says at first the new measures inconvenienced some customers. She tells the story of a woman in her 80s who tried to use her birth certificate to buy a bottle of sherry.

CAROL VALLES, LIQUOR RETAILER: It was a 1928 birth certificate, but you cannot use them; you can only use a driver's licence or some government ID.

TED EGAN: A lot of people are nothing short of appalled that someone raises queries about the community's ability to handle alcohol, and most people say look at me, "Look at me: I'm your exemplary drinker." ... But I think it's very important for all of us to examine where we are with alcohol and I don't think it's a bad idea at all to have controls.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The Government's banned drinkers lists includes people who've committed alcohol-related crimes or been caught for high range drink-driving. People taken into protective custody three times in three months also end up on the banned list. There's also a special court for alcohol-related crime and a tribunal for reviewing cases. Both can order people into treatment.

DENNIS GRAY: We know that treatment for alcohol-related problems is effective, and if we can get people who are dependent on alcohol into treatment, I think that's a positive thing.

DELIA LAWRIE: Early signs are good. Certainly our streets are quieter, our parks are quieter, our shopping centres are quieter. Early indication from police is that assaults have dropped about 15 per cent.

SARA EVERINGHAM: But police also say there is evidence some banned drinkers are finding ways around the laws and getting access to alcohol on the black market.

GRAHAME KELLY, ASST. COMMISSIONER, NT POLICE: If we can identify a person who's supplying alcohol to people who are on the banned drinker register, guess what? They go on the banned drinker register themselves.

DELIA LAWRIE: We've dramatically increased the fines for sly grog sales up to $33,000. Previously they were $1,000.

TERRY MILLS: Those that actually have a problem that causes a problem socially, they're gonna find a way of getting alcohol as we know they do.

SARA EVERINGHAM: While the Territory Opposition wants to scrap the banned drinkers register, others are calling for the Government to go further and introduce a minimum price on alcohol.

DELIA LAWRIE: What we're not gonna do is just adjust price that affects everyone, the majority of people who are doing the right thing.

DENNIS GRAY: Some of these hard measures which will be effective are politically difficult to put in place.

SARA EVERINGHAM: As the weather warms up in Darwin, residents and tourists are enjoying a drink as the debate over alcohol goes on. But even those who see alcohol as a social lubricant are also concerned about the serious problems excessive drinking can cause.

TED EGAN: Alcohol's a big issue in frontier life and the NT is still largely a frontier. So it's with us and we need to work out how to have it in our lifestyle and yet not let it be detrimental.